Healthcare Assistant (Sponsorship Available) at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Job Summary

This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated Healthcare Assistant to develop their skills and experience working to support the mental health of women within a custodial environment.

The successful candidate will be an integral part of the multi-disciplinary team.

Your role will be to support women who are on your caseload, contribute to assessments and risk management, as well as undertaking welfare assessments.

You will help facilitate some group interventions, support registered practitioners with more complex cases as well as undertaking some project work to develop services.

Job Details

• Employer: Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

• Job Title: Healthcare Assistant

• Location: United Kingdom

• Salary: £30,630 to £32,346 a year

• Job Type: Full-time

• Closing Date: 09 November 2026

Main Duties of the Job

• To provide individual support, (both short term and longer term) to prisoners with mental health needs.

• To manage a caseload of those who require mental health support.

• To undertake welfare assessments.

• To help and facilitate group and other interventions.

• To undertake and support assessments and interventions to individuals under the supervision of a qualified practitioner as appropriate to your level of competence and training.

• To undertake clinically related administration and project work.

• To liaise with other professional services and various stakeholders, including families and significant others as appropriate, sharing information where appropriate.

• To be an active member of the multi-disciplinary team and as such contribute fully to care pathway planning meetings.

Job Description and Responsibilities

• To hold a caseload of low level need cases, supported by qualified Practitioners.

• To undertake welfare checks and task centred crisis support in accordance with skills and competency.

• To contribute to care planning and risk assessments.

• To support a trauma informed integrated framework under the supervision of a qualified practitioner. This will include being a visible presence on wings to provide low level mental health assessments, support and interventions, as agreed with your supervisor.

• Developing positive working relationships with staff and prisoners; supporting the delivery of key aspects of the health & wellbeing framework.

• Contributing to formulations of those individuals the team works with.

• To support clinical staff in the assessment of individuals referred to the team. This may include using self-report measures, risk assessment, rating scales, direct and indirect observations and semi-structured interviews with patients and others involved in the patients care.

• Assessments will involve making judgements involving complex facts or situations which require the analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options.

• To work in a highly emotive atmosphere with clients with offending histories and / or mental health problems on a regular basis, and be able to communicate sensitive and complex information, whilst maintaining a high degree of professionalism at all times.

• To support qualified practitioners in preparing for and conducting therapeutic interventions, both group and individual.

• To co facilitate groups and workshops with qualified clinical staff when appropriate.

• To attend and contribute to multi-disciplinary meetings within the Mental Health In-Reach Team including staff support/reflective practice and other core staff activities.

• To attend and contribute to other meetings, and to present the view of the Mental Health In-Reach Team for relevant clinical issues. To ensure any actions taken from these meetings are met or that the appropriate individual to carry out the action is informed.

• To work closely with resettlement workers, and to communicate effectively with them regarding client care. To utilise their knowledge of the wider prison population to gather appropriate referrals for psychological interventions.

• To ensure that efficient pathways of care are being created for the clients, including collecting collateral information for new clients and making appropriate referrals into the community when they are approaching discharge.

• To gather historical information about individuals from other services and to share case formulations and recommendations with them when appropriate.

• To liaise with other services in order to facilitate safe and seamless release planning and onward management upon release.

• To work closely with senior colleagues to ensure information in relation to risk is collected and communicated sensitively and comprehensively.

• To maintain the highest standards of clinical record keeping, including electronic data entry and recording.

• To maintain up to date knowledge of legislation, national and local policies and issues in relation to both the specific patient group and mental health.

• To ensure that with all aspects of professional activity (e.g. communication with patients, relatives, colleagues as well as in the assessment, development/delivery of interventions) issues of diversity such as race, culture, identity, gender and sexuality are sensitively considered and incorporated to reflect individual differences appropriately.

Person Specification

Education

Essential

• Spoken and written English to an appropriate standard to fulfil the job role and requirements.

• Numeracy and Literacy skills required to keep accurate records and administer medicines (if appropriate).

Desirable

• NVQ Level 3 or Care Certificate, Undergraduate degree.

• Care Certificate – You will be supported to complete this within 3 months of starting if not achieved elsewhere.

• Venepuncture.

• Patient assessments and observations.

Experience

Essential

• Previous experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team.

• Healthcare / NHS or similar experience in community or hospital settings.

• Experience of communicating with a range of different people.

• Previous experience of working within a fast paced environment.

• Previous experience of working within a customer focused environment.

Desirable

• Working within offender care, prison or secure setting.

• Experience in a caring role.

• Previous experience of working in a mental health setting.

• An understanding of mental health and criminal justice legislation.

Skills

Essential

• Evidence of undertaking assessments and interventions relating to mental health.

• Able to communicate with the multi disciplinary team, update others in the team and use handover effectively.

Skills and Aptitude

Essential

– Evidence of delivering compassionate and person centred support.

Desirable

– Evidence of understanding of trauma informed practices.

Knowledge

Essential

– An understanding of working within a prison mental health setting and some legislative knowledge.

Desirable

– Some evidence of understanding of the Mental Health Act, MCA and relevant criminal justice processes.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.

For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years.

Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement.

Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

About Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

You will be joining a skilled and diverse multi-disciplinary team, focused on providing trauma informed care, assessment and support to women in custody.

You will work alongside different disciplines that include psychiatry, psychology, Occupational Therapy, Registered Practitioners and Therapists.

As a department, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust values the relational approach adopted in its work to achieve the best possible outcomes for the women the team works with in terms of their mental health and neuro-divergent needs.

You will also work in close partnership with other services that the Trust commissions and with the various departments within the prison as well as external and community based agencies.

In return, CNWL will prioritise your professional and personal development needs and you will have the opportunity to attend a wide array of training relevant to your role.

You will receive high quality supervision and reflective practice opportunities as part of this role.

How to Apply

If this opportunity interests you, head to the company’s official website for full details — click here to submit your application.